Glavine excited about working for Braves

Former hurler will serve as special assistant, broadcaster

By Mark Bowman / MLB.com

ATLANTA -- Tom Glavine isn't sure exactly what he wants to do in the baseball world now that his playing days are officially complete. But he's looking forward to the opportunity to get a taste of a number of different aspects while working within the Braves' front office.

While officially announcing his retirement on Thursday, Glavine was introduced as the newest member of the Braves' broadcast team and a special assistant to team president John Schuerholz.

"We're going to tap into Tom's great assets and use his ability to help us become a better organization as he did for so many years as a player," said Schuerholz while standing alongside Glavine, who notched 244 of his 305 career victories while pitching for the Braves.

While Glavine understands what to expect when he occasionally appears on the radio and television broadcasts, he's looking forward to gaining a better sense of what goes on within the front office of a Major League organization.

The Braves plan to have Glavine aid them with some business endeavors. But most of his time will likely be spent evaluating and helping develop talent at both the Major and Minor League levels within the organization.

"This opportunity that we've come up with gives me a tremendous amount of flexibility to do a number of things with the organization," Glavine said. "In a perfect world for me, it exposes me to a lot of things and sometime -- hopefully, relatively soon -- I can figure out if there is one aspect that I really enjoy and can focus on that in the future."

Wanting to stay close to his wife and five children, Glavine isn't expected to do much traveling. He will spend some time at Spring Training. But with Triple-A Gwinnett and Class A Rome both located within 90 minutes of his suburban Atlanta home, the 43-year-old left-hander will not have to go far if he is asked to help with some of the Minor League players.

From the broadcasting perspective, Glavine will serve as an occasional guest for the Braves Radio Network pregame show and also serve as a guest analyst during select games that are broadcast on the radio.

In addition, he will work as a guest analyst with Joe Simpson and Chip Caray during Sunday afternoon home games aired by FOX Sports South.

Among legends

Tom Glavine's ranks in Braves history

Category

Total

Rank

Walks

1,177

Third

Strikeouts

2,091

Fourth

Wins

244

Fourth

Innings pitched

3,408

Fourth

Losses

147

Fourth

Games pitched

518

Sixth

Shutouts

22

Eighth (tie)

W-L Pct.

.624

Eighth

"The beauty of it for me -- and I'm thankful that John and [Braves general manager] Frank [Wren] were willing to do -- is the open-endedness, both from a time and job description standpoint," Glavine said. "I don't think there is anything that any of us thinks is off limits."

Glavine's return to the organization comes eight months after Wren informed him that he was being released just five days before he was scheduled to make his June 7 season debut. One night earlier, Glavine had traveled to Rome and tossed six scoreless innings during what he thought was his final rehab test.

When informed that he wasn't even going to get the opportunity to attempt to return from the surgical procedures performed on his left elbow and left shoulder the previous August, Glavine understandably reacted in a defiant manner and didn't have any contact with the organization until speaking with Schuerholz around Thanksgiving.

"I've had my conversations with John," Glavine said. "We've certainly cleared the air. I'm happy where we are as far as all of that is concerned. I've talked to Frank. All of that is behind us. If I didn't feel like it wasn't and if I didn't feel like I could work with John or Frank, then I wouldn't be standing here."

Mark Bowman is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.